Hi all,
doing the Camino Francés was one of my childhood dreams. I grew up hearing epic stories about it, and wanted to be a part of it.
Like everyone, however, I have my quirks, and wanted to do a number of things that many would consider at best unorthodox.
The biggest “quirk” was that I wanted to run large chunks of my Camino. I’m an ultramarathon runner and have been running in excess of 4000 km per year for a long time. Over the summer, I also do a lot of my running on the Alps, and often climb in excess of 2000m in a day. As I was doing my research pre-Camino, there was very little information targeted at people “like me”, so I hope that this post might be of use to someone with a similar approach and habits.
My Camino was absolutely wonderful and lived up to my – rather lofty – expectations, but reading through the posts of other forum users, it predictably came with some differences and trade-offs.
For starters, I had to plan everything in advance. To many on the Camino, this could be a problem, but to someone like me it was perfect. I love having plans and spreadsheets, and was really happy to book my accommodation 24 hours in advance, have a target distance for the day etc.
Another huge difference was that I got to interact with many wonderful people, but never came to have a “Camino family” like so many people here did. I would meet people in the evening, chat with them, and then at best say hello in the morning before quite literally running away.
Most mornings the alarm would go off at some point between 4 and 5 am (depending not so much on the length of the stage, but on how hot it was likely to get by the afternoon – who would have ever thought, Spain in August can be quite warm…) and I’d be out bright and early, trying to cover the first 20k in a couple of hours before taking it easier as the legs got tired and the temperatures increased. On average, I would cover about 45 km per day in roughly 6 hours – the only short stage for me was the last one, as I decided to sleep in Lavacolla and get to Santiago bright and early the following morning when things were a bit quieter (as for many of you out there, I found the crowds after Sarria a bit overwhelming).
As far as equipment was concerned, my backpack was rather minimal, at just 19 litres, but it did contain everything I needed, and in the end I opted for some of my most trusted road running shoes (something that not everyone might agree on, but I’m used to running with them on all sorts of terrains), and I clearly had a rechargeable head torch, otherwise moving in the darkness would have been way too dangerous!
I also discovered that no matter how hard you try, it’s impossible to ingest the 5000-odd daily calories that one burns while doing something like this. Yet, a solid diet based on Jelly Beans and potato tortillas can help you, at least for a little while. As for hydration, I developed a mild addiction to Kas and never allowed myself an alcoholic drink (I know, I missed out!) until a fellow pilgrim I helped reporting a stolen credit card in Castromaior bought me a beer as a thank you.
I started out to test the limits of what was enjoyable for me (yes, my idea of enjoyment might be twisted, but hey!), although clearly there were many points when I was testing the limits of pain too. Tendons felt like they were about to explode at times (soaking my feet in the streams at the end of a stage was such a wonderful experience!), blisters obviously made things uncomfortable on some days, and a stupid fall on the Pyrenees could have brought my journey to an end before it had even really started.
But I just wanted to say that if there are any long-distance runners out there who are wondering “can one run the Camino?” the answer is that one can, but it comes at a cost. It’s definitely not something that anyone can do, and even a lot of the people who could do it would probably prefer a more relaxed approach, but it worked for me.
In case people find it helpful, below you can find how I ended up splitting my stages. I know a lot of you might think of me as a bit weird, but hey aren’t we all?!?
Thanks for reading!
Gio
Day 1: SJPDP – Bizkarreta (35.8 km), the downhill to Roncesvalles was tricky to run on, from Ronscesvalles on it was beautiful to let the legs go!
Day 2: Bizkarreta – Obanos (51.3 km), the downhill from the Alto del Perdón is just NOT runnable…
Day 3: Obanos – Los Arcos (46 km), in Estella I was “welcomed” by a marching band at 8 am – my idea of a party!
Day 4: Los Arcos – Navarrete (41.2 km), one of the days in which I felt that I could have gone for longer, but had to actively remind myself that the Camino was just at the beginning and I shouldn’t have pushed it too much too soon
Day 5: Navarrete to Belorado (59 km), so much of the way after Santo Domingo de la Calzada was besides the motorway, so I wanted to get it out in one go
Day 6 – Belorado to Burgos (48 km), after Atapuerca I was feeling a bit tired, so I took the most direct route to Burgos, which ended up being one of my few regrets – going through Castañares would have added 500 metres or so, but would have spared me the industrial outskirts of the city
Day 7 – Burgos to Castrojeriz (41.3 km), I’m not quite sure I’ve ever run through (literally!) anything as cool as the Convento de San Antón
Day 8 – Castrojeriz to Carrion de Los Condes (45.3 km), a typical example of the need to plan if approaching the Camino in this way – had I not had accommodation booked in Carrion de Los Condes, I would have either had to go back to the previous town, or push on for another 17 km to the next one
Day 9 – Carrion de Los Condes to El Burgo Ranero (56.3 km), I must admit I absolutely loved the Meseta and stopping in this small little village
Day 10 – El Burgo Ranero to Leon (37 km), again I was looking for a relatively “short” stage, and Leon is obviously such a beautiful place to stop
Day 11 – Leon to Murias de Rechivaldo (55 km), I was a bit worried about being around too many people in Astorga, so I decided to push on, and it ended up being a great decision
Day 12 – Murias de Rechivaldo to Ponferrada (48 km), going down to Molinaseca was easily the most technical part of the Camino for me (and the one moment in which I almost reconsidered my decision to have running shoes). That descent was a very slow and careful walk for me!
Day 13 – Ponferrada to Las Herrerias (42.3 km), Villafranca ended up being the place on the Camino where I wished I could have stopped for longer, but I wanted to get to the bottom of O Cebreiro soon as I was intimidated by it!
Day 14 – Las Herrerias to Triacastela (29.3 km), a “very short” stage because of my apprehensiveness about O Cebreiro. Turns out my legs were in much better shape than I thought at that point and got to the Albergue way too early!
Day 15 – Triacastela to Castromaior (49.3 km), really happy to have stayed “mid-stage” for this one, as the first day with the Sarria crowds was very tricky mentally (also, in an effort to “run away” from the crowd – I somehow managed to get lost!)
Day 16 – Castromaior to Melide (29.4 km), by this time I had booked my return flight and realized I could take it a bit easier (and allow myself the luxury of a hotel room…)
Day 17 – Melide to Lavacolla (43.3 km), I got to the albergue before check-in time and spent a lot of time wondering whether I should have just pushed on to Santiago on that day. Really glad I didn’t
Day 18 – Lavacolla to Santiago (10.3 km), early wake up, number 5 in the queue for the Compostela, and one of the most incredible journeys of my life in the books!
,
doing the Camino Francés was one of my childhood dreams. I grew up hearing epic stories about it, and wanted to be a part of it.
Like everyone, however, I have my quirks, and wanted to do a number of things that many would consider at best unorthodox.
The biggest “quirk” was that I wanted to run large chunks of my Camino. I’m an ultramarathon runner and have been running in excess of 4000 km per year for a long time. Over the summer, I also do a lot of my running on the Alps, and often climb in excess of 2000m in a day. As I was doing my research pre-Camino, there was very little information targeted at people “like me”, so I hope that this post might be of use to someone with a similar approach and habits.
My Camino was absolutely wonderful and lived up to my – rather lofty – expectations, but reading through the posts of other forum users, it predictably came with some differences and trade-offs.
For starters, I had to plan everything in advance. To many on the Camino, this could be a problem, but to someone like me it was perfect. I love having plans and spreadsheets, and was really happy to book my accommodation 24 hours in advance, have a target distance for the day etc.
Another huge difference was that I got to interact with many wonderful people, but never came to have a “Camino family” like so many people here did. I would meet people in the evening, chat with them, and then at best say hello in the morning before quite literally running away.
Most mornings the alarm would go off at some point between 4 and 5 am (depending not so much on the length of the stage, but on how hot it was likely to get by the afternoon – who would have ever thought, Spain in August can be quite warm…) and I’d be out bright and early, trying to cover the first 20k in a couple of hours before taking it easier as the legs got tired and the temperatures increased. On average, I would cover about 45 km per day in roughly 6 hours – the only short stage for me was the last one, as I decided to sleep in Lavacolla and get to Santiago bright and early the following morning when things were a bit quieter (as for many of you out there, I found the crowds after Sarria a bit overwhelming).
As far as equipment was concerned, my backpack was rather minimal, at just 19 litres, but it did contain everything I needed, and in the end I opted for some of my most trusted road running shoes (something that not everyone might agree on, but I’m used to running with them on all sorts of terrains), and I clearly had a rechargeable head torch, otherwise moving in the darkness would have been way too dangerous!
I also discovered that no matter how hard you try, it’s impossible to ingest the 5000-odd daily calories that one burns while doing something like this. Yet, a solid diet based on Jelly Beans and potato tortillas can help you, at least for a little while. As for hydration, I developed a mild addiction to Kas and never allowed myself an alcoholic drink (I know, I missed out!) until a fellow pilgrim I helped reporting a stolen credit card in Castromaior bought me a beer as a thank you.
I started out to test the limits of what was enjoyable for me (yes, my idea of enjoyment might be twisted, but hey!), although clearly there were many points when I was testing the limits of pain too. Tendons felt like they were about to explode at times (soaking my feet in the streams at the end of a stage was such a wonderful experience!), blisters obviously made things uncomfortable on some days, and a stupid fall on the Pyrenees could have brought my journey to an end before it had even really started.
But I just wanted to say that if there are any long-distance runners out there who are wondering “can one run the Camino?” the answer is that one can, but it comes at a cost. It’s definitely not something that anyone can do, and even a lot of the people who could do it would probably prefer a more relaxed approach, but it worked for me.
In case people find it helpful, below you can find how I ended up splitting my stages. I know a lot of you might think of me as a bit weird, but hey aren’t we all?!?
Thanks for reading!
Gio
Day 1: SJPDP – Bizkarreta (35.8 km), the downhill to Roncesvalles was tricky to run on, from Ronscesvalles on it was beautiful to let the legs go!
Day 2: Bizkarreta – Obanos (51.3 km), the downhill from the Alto del Perdón is just NOT runnable…
Day 3: Obanos – Los Arcos (46 km), in Estella I was “welcomed” by a marching band at 8 am – my idea of a party!
Day 4: Los Arcos – Navarrete (41.2 km), one of the days in which I felt that I could have gone for longer, but had to actively remind myself that the Camino was just at the beginning and I shouldn’t have pushed it too much too soon
Day 5: Navarrete to Belorado (59 km), so much of the way after Santo Domingo de la Calzada was besides the motorway, so I wanted to get it out in one go
Day 6 – Belorado to Burgos (48 km), after Atapuerca I was feeling a bit tired, so I took the most direct route to Burgos, which ended up being one of my few regrets – going through Castañares would have added 500 metres or so, but would have spared me the industrial outskirts of the city
Day 7 – Burgos to Castrojeriz (41.3 km), I’m not quite sure I’ve ever run through (literally!) anything as cool as the Convento de San Antón
Day 8 – Castrojeriz to Carrion de Los Condes (45.3 km), a typical example of the need to plan if approaching the Camino in this way – had I not had accommodation booked in Carrion de Los Condes, I would have either had to go back to the previous town, or push on for another 17 km to the next one
Day 9 – Carrion de Los Condes to El Burgo Ranero (56.3 km), I must admit I absolutely loved the Meseta and stopping in this small little village
Day 10 – El Burgo Ranero to Leon (37 km), again I was looking for a relatively “short” stage, and Leon is obviously such a beautiful place to stop
Day 11 – Leon to Murias de Rechivaldo (55 km), I was a bit worried about being around too many people in Astorga, so I decided to push on, and it ended up being a great decision
Day 12 – Murias de Rechivaldo to Ponferrada (48 km), going down to Molinaseca was easily the most technical part of the Camino for me (and the one moment in which I almost reconsidered my decision to have running shoes). That descent was a very slow and careful walk for me!
Day 13 – Ponferrada to Las Herrerias (42.3 km), Villafranca ended up being the place on the Camino where I wished I could have stopped for longer, but I wanted to get to the bottom of O Cebreiro soon as I was intimidated by it!
Day 14 – Las Herrerias to Triacastela (29.3 km), a “very short” stage because of my apprehensiveness about O Cebreiro. Turns out my legs were in much better shape than I thought at that point and got to the Albergue way too early!
Day 15 – Triacastela to Castromaior (49.3 km), really happy to have stayed “mid-stage” for this one, as the first day with the Sarria crowds was very tricky mentally (also, in an effort to “run away” from the crowd – I somehow managed to get lost!)
Day 16 – Castromaior to Melide (29.4 km), by this time I had booked my return flight and realized I could take it a bit easier (and allow myself the luxury of a hotel room…)
Day 17 – Melide to Lavacolla (43.3 km), I got to the albergue before check-in time and spent a lot of time wondering whether I should have just pushed on to Santiago on that day. Really glad I didn’t
Day 18 – Lavacolla to Santiago (10.3 km), early wake up, number 5 in the queue for the Compostela, and one of the most incredible journeys of my life in the books!
,
